Using Excel, develop a simulation model for the following problem and simulate for one thousand hours based on an 80 percent target utilization rate. Report process performance measures given the current capacity and make recommendations.

A medical center would like to determine if additional laboratory clerks are needed in its outpatient laboratory. Hours of operation are 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. All patients require registration in the hospital information system to allow for proper billing and test result entry. The laboratory is staffed with three laboratory clerks. The number of visits over the twenty-six months under study totaled 91,699. No appointments are made, and patients are assisted on a first-come, first-served basis. During that time period, the center was open for 576 days. Patient registration averages 5.2 minutes per patient regardless of the patient category. Busy server costs and idle server costs are equivalent to the hourly salary of the laboratory clerk, $10.47, regardless of whether they are busy or idle. The cost of the customer being served by a laboratory clerk is the same as the lab clerk's hourly wage. The cost of a customer being balked is based on data that the average patient has 3.2 tests collected per visit with an average test reimbursement of $20.41 from the insurance payers. This totals $65.31 in balked costs per patient. The customer waiting cost was assigned a value of $20, as estimated by the business office.